For selected target groups, such as unemployed and disadvantaged youth, Christoph Ehlert demonstrates that flexible and well-targeted programmes significantly improve employment chances. To be effective, these programmes must combine individual coaching, classroom training and temporary work....

Unemployment insurance is a key tool for risk sharing and redistribution and also a prominent automatic stabiliser. It is a volatile spending item by design, which can lead to vulnerabilities. This paper explores various shocks and sources of vulnerability of the unemployment insurance schemes...

Western Balkan countries face significant labor market challenges. Fostering job creation (more generally), increasing skills, and expanding access to formal jobs, especially for socially vulnerable groups, is of critical importance for the Western Balkans. The objectives of public employment...

Greece, Ireland and Portugal, on the periphery of Europe, are still influenced by a history of migration from agriculture to urban areas and to other countries, and have all received extensive assistance from the European Union's Structural Funds.Which of these countries' varied, often...

Proponents of an active labour market policy are now claiming part of the credit for large falls in structural unemployment rates that have occurred in some OECD countries. Advances in information technology which facilitate matching job-seekers to jobs, modern management methods, and a...